The Curls Project: A Revival?

A long time ago, back when I actually had time and the ability to attend Knit Night at the local yarn store, I embarked on a project to knit every pattern in a book, in order.

I made it through three of the fourteen patterns before getting side tracked by things like custom Christmas Stocking orders and finishing grad school and having a baby.

I recently went through the yarn and sold some of the stash in preparation for Monkey to move to her own room. I found the yarn I had planned for the next Curls shawl, and am contemplating starting it up.

But first I have some orders and a sweater or two to make. You see, I promised myself I would finish them, and make one more project before starting in on other ones. I need to de-stash, and at least one of those planned projects is part of a bigger project that I'm working on for myself this winter.

I guess the Curls project may still be on hold... who knows if it will ever actually get done.

Curls Project: Argent

I know I said I was going to wait and knock out a couple of other projects before casting this on. I couldn't help myself. I had it all ready to go, both physically and mentally, and have for a couple of months. And the thought that this project, which I optimistically thought would take maybe a year to complete has already taken a year. And I'm only on the 4th of 14 projects in it. That's not even 25% done (technically once I finish this one, I'll be 28% done, but it isn't finished so it doesn't count).

The next pattern in the Curls book is Argent.

The yarn I'm using is a bright yellow HauteKnit Simple Sock that I bought as part of a flash sale on Instagram a... long time ago. I think I'm using a US5 needle, but we need to wait a bit before knowing if that's the final decision or not. Sometimes I start one way, and end up going back and re-doing it after deciding it wasn't meant to be that way in the first place.

I have to admit, I have a recipient in mind already, but am going to be flexible with this. Sometimes I start knitting something and think it's for someone, then later change my mind. Or sometimes I get the message confused while knitting, only to have it straighten itself out later on. (I thought I wrote a blog post on this already, turns out I haven't so it's going on the list.)

Gridelin

I finally finished it. I started it last August, I think. It was a long time ago.

At the beginning I had decided that this shawl needed to be bigger than the previous two Curls shawls because this one I was keeping for myself and I wanted it to be able to actually help keep me warm. I have plenty of scarves already and didn't want to really add another one into the mix.

I stopped tracking time on it. Other than the feeling that I was STILL knitting on it and it would NEVER END. But I stuck it out and it's really finished and I'm going to put it away nicely for awhile until I'm ready to look at it again.

I used two skeins of Cascade Heritage sock yarn. I have a third one but couldn't bring myself to keep going when I saw the end of the second one in sight. It's a decent size and I'm happy with it.

The current internal debate is whether I should try to knock out a few other projects (I have 10 Christmas stockings on order and only completed about 25% of one so far. My goal was one a month) or if I'm good to cast on the next Curls shawl. I have the yarn caked and ready to go. I even have a recipient in mind for it. But I'm not sure I'm ready to slog through another shawl just yet.

Sorry for the Pause: Gridelin Again

Hi all! I'm back, hopefully for good this time. (But of course I say that every time and then life happens.) I have plans to blog a bit about some of what has been going on lately, I've been busy that's for sure.

So, here's a quick up date on the Curls project. I started Gridelin waaay back in August. I've been picking away at it since then, as well as trying to get some other projects done as well. I got to the point in Gridelin where I started to think, "I don't think it's going to be big enough."

Of course, these patterns were made to be used with that one "special" skein of yarn if need be. And I had this yarn, ready to go. It's one of "my" colors. And I just knew, deep in my knitter's heart, that one skein would not be enough. I'm being pickier with this one since I intend to keep it for myself. I bought the yarn a long time ago, and knew that the yarn shop would not have any more in the right dye lot.

I checked anyway.

Then, Ravelry to the rescue. I searched the yarn color. This led me to three people who had skeins of the colorway in their "for sale or trade" stash. I messaged each one with the dye lot number and crossed my fingers.

Lo and behold, one messaged me back that she had not one but TWO skeins in the right dye lot. She happily sent both to me, and I happily received them. Upon the receipt of the package my husband told me I got more yarn, and I realized that he now automatically thinks that any package I receive is yarn.

I'm nearly done with my first original skein, and have the next one ready to go.  After that I might have to pause for a bit, since I have 5 Christmas Stockings to make by Thanksgiving (a self imposed deadline, btw).

Happy Knitting Y'all!

Gridelin Grows

One hour: I am loving this stitch pattern! (Hopefully it will last, on the other two, once I got about halfway through I got really bored with the stitch pattern and couldn't wait for it to be done so I could start something new.) 

One of the greatest things about this shawl pattern, in comparison to the prior two, is that you can actually 'read' the knitting on it very easily. The other ones were mostly a variation of stockinette stitch, but this one isn't. It's a mock cable (yes, you don't need a cable needle for it), so there is a good variation of knit and purl stitches that are consistent on each row. This makes it easy to see where I'm at on both the right and wrong side of the knitting. 

Eleven Hours:

I am still enjoying this pattern. I love it! It's simple enough to not need the pattern in front of me, but still interesting enough to keep me from getting horrifically bored like the last two shawls from this book did. 

One thing I'm really enjoying about this pattern is that I can easily see how I could incorporate it into a baby sweater, or an adult sweater, even into a hat as a lovely design element. I could totally do that! It would look super fancy but not be super fancy during the knitting part of the garment creation. 

By weight, I'm a little under halfway done with this shawl. It might end up being smaller than I would like when I get to the end of the skein, so I might have to go buy another skein if I can find it in the right colorway and dye lot. 

Curls Project: Gridelin

With the completion of Cerise, I am ready to start the next Hunter Hammerson Curl, Gridelin. In the planning stages of this project, Gridelin was one of the two that I wanted for myself. I'm still feeling that way currently. But am also open to that changing if it needs to change.

I will be using some lovely gray Cascade Heritage yarn:

I've cast on and gotten a decent start so far: 

Stay tuned for more info on this Curl! 

Cerise

Here it is, Curls Project 2 of 14 (this means I'm 14% done with the whole project):

Cerise

HauteKnitYarn 155g SWMerinoDK 

I don't know the colorway, it wasn't on the band, and I received the yarn as part of a Swap. (I will be reviewing the yarn, along with another skein from HauteKnitYarn in a future post.)
Start Date: July 4
Finish Date: August 1

Modifications: After several attempts to get correct stitch counts, I decided to change the double wraps at the end of each right side row, and the beginning of each wrong side row, to regular old knit stitches. As far as I can tell from pictures, this didn't really affect the finished product. 

Curls Project: Cerise

I took a small hiatus from working on the Curls Project while I finished up some other knitting projects. (Mielie vest, socks, blankets.) But am happy to say that I am back on track.

The next project in the book is Cerise. I've decided to use some yarn that I received in a swap (again. Those swaps are fabulous for trying out new yarns). It's HauteKnitYarn SW Merino DK. The name of the colorway escapes me at the moment, but it's got lots of lovely dark colors in it.

So far I've cast on and done two repeats of the pattern. Honestly, it took me three tries to get it to work out. It's going to take a little more brainpower than the last one took because, I have to actually count on this one. Unless... I try out stitch markers to keep my place... that might actually work. 

If you'd like to follow progress you can check out my Ravelry Project page for Cerise. You'll get more info on it here on the blog, but there you can check how far I've gotten on it as I work on it. 

Caesious

Why, yes. Yes I did finish the first Curls shawl.

Caesious Update: A Road Trip and Some Netflix

I feel like I've been really seriously slacking in the knitting department lately. There are several projects on the needles that should have been done long ago. But they are still there.

Caesious is one of them. Thankfully, we had a road trip recently. 10 hours one way, with lots of driving while there. I was able to make a lot of progress on some projects. One that really needs to be done (the Mielie vest) and of course Caesious.

When we got home I weighed how much yarn was left. 50 grams which means I am officially halfway done with it! Yay!

Here's a picture:

I also reached the point where I have the pattern in my head, and can move fairly quickly through a repeat. I can even stop in the middle of a repeat and walk away for awhile, then pick it right back up no problems.

The yarn is Three Irish Girls Cashmerino Sock. This pattern helps the yarn feel really light and squishy (John came up with that word after touching it). It's just lovely.... The only complaint I have is that it's variegated. I think I would like this project more if it weren't so variegated...

Since I will be finishing up my thesis soon, I should have a little more time and brainpower to devote to the knitting, and this project in particular. Caesious is the 'experiment' one to give me a gauge on how long they take, and once I have that under my belt, I will set a goal for when I want to have the entire Curls Project completed!

Caesious: Curls Project Update

For those of you who don't know, I have embarked on a journey. I am knitting every single pattern in the book "Curls", in order. I have no idea how long this will take and if it will even actually be seen through to the end, but it was a great idea so I'm going for it.

As I started out on Caesious, I quickly came to the realization that I had to make a rule about the approach to this project. I'm not allowed to flip through the book or look at any project in it other than the one I am working on. I think this will help me not get antsy, help mitigate the temptation to skip to another shawl later in the book because I really want to do it. At this point, all I remember is that Shawl #3 is one for me, I have the yarn and everything. Knowing this is a motivating factor, sort of.

This is an old picture... more has been done on it!

Caesious was interesting for about 2 repeats of the pattern, now it's a bit annoying. I feel like I haven't memorized the pattern enough yet to let it be mindless, but it is mindless enough that my mind wanders and next thing I know I've messed up something.

I just have so many other dang projects I'm trying to get done right now that this one is slow going. I've got blankets, and socks, and a sweater vest that just isn't progressing (at least it feels that way right now). I've been stashbusting like a madwoman, and yet the stash isn't getting used up as quickly as I would like it to be used up. My thesis is taking a lot of my time and all my play gets pushed aside. Sigh.